Book Title: The Stories of English
by David Crystal
Review by Tim North
http://www.scribe.com.au
I had the good fortune to stumble across this wonderful book
recently, and I found it both entertaining and informative.
As the title suggests, the book tells the various stories by
which the English language has come to be what it is today. (It's
as much about history and politics as it is about language.)
This isn't the only book to cover these topics, of course, but at
584 pages this is certainly one of the most comprehensive and
well researched.
What makes this work so special is that it doesn't just
concentrate on the history and character of "standard" English:
"Indeed, for every one person who speaks Standard English,
there must be a hundred who do not, and another hundred
who speak other varieties as well as the standard. Where
is their story told?" (p. 5)
In this vein, it tells the stories of the rise of British
English, American English, Scottish English, creoles, street
slang and, most recently, Internet English.
It argues that we're presently in the middle of a period of rapid
change and growth of English, and these are among some of its
many conclusions (p. 529):
1. Language change is normal and unstoppable, reflecting
the normal and unstoppable processes of social change.
2. Language variation is normal and universal, reflecting
the normal and universal diversity of cultural and social
groups.
...
4. A highly diversified society needs nonstandard varieties
('nonstandard language') to enable groups of people to
express their regional or cultural identity.
I recommend this enjoyable and instructive work to anyone who
has an interest in this wonderful and diverse language: English.
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